Typophile

Wonky hinting

Nick Shinn

Actually, the problem is with alignment zones, as I haven’t specifically applied any hinting to the font. (Unless there is some output setting that does hinting automatically that I’m not aware of.)

Here’s the offending item. It’s printed on newsprint, 14 pt. The font is “.otf”, output to PDF from InDesign:

A Type 1 version of a very similar font (with almost the same alignment zones and standard stems) came out as intended.
This is on coated stock, again at 14 pt:

The main reason I give the fonts alignment zones is so that they are neat on screen:

Here is what the FontLab file looks like (a composite of screen grabs, actually):

Can anybody shed some light on my difficulty?

‹ OpenType to TrueType? Has anyone used AsiaFont Studio? ›
Chris Lozos

Nick,
Are these family alignment zones?

Also, at 14 point, I can’t see why there should be that much of a difference. The cup in your terminal does not seem that severe—wierd.

ChrisL

William Berkson

Thomas Phinney might be able to clear this up. He mentioned at the Fonttech workshop in NYC that the x height and baseline should be at the middle of ’cupped’ terminals, not the extremes, for ’flex hinting’ to work properly. I don’t really understand it, but I believe it relates to the blue zones also. Hopefully he can clear it up for you. Me too!

Nick Shinn

Are these family alignment zones?

I used the same alignment zones for the four base weights of the family, but I didn’t use the “family zone” feature, as I was uneasy with/didn’t understand the interface for it. This is in Fontlab Studio BTW.

twardoch

Did you activate flex? (In Font Info / Hinting Settings / Additional hinting parameters).

Adam

Nick Shinn

No. I didn’t get past “Blue Fuzz” on that page!
But I will try it, it sounds promising.

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